Meru Museum

{{Infobox museum

| name = Meru Museum

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| established = 1974

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| location = Meru, Kenya

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| collections = Cultural history and practices of the Meru people.

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The Meru Museum is a museum located in Meru, Kenya.[http://www.museums.or.ke/content/blogcategory/23/29/ Meru - Historical Background] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207012053/http://www.museums.or.ke/content/blogcategory/23/29/ |date=2013-12-07 }} Its exhibits focus on the cultural history and practices of the Meru people.

History

The museum building was built in 1916, and was used as the District Commissioner Office, and is the oldest stone building in Meru. In 1973, the National Museums of Kenya made an agreement to renovate the structure into a local museum. The museum first opened in 1974: the National Museums of Kenya along with the Meru County and Municipal Council completed the renovations of the museum structure; the objective with the creation of this museum was to have a space that would be about the local history of this region of Kenya.{{Cite web|last=Ic|first=Andrew|date=2015-04-17|title=Meru Museum|url=https://kenyacradle.com/meru-museum/|access-date=2021-08-23|website=KenyaCradle|language=en-US}} In the same year, George Kirigia was assigned as the museum's curator.{{Cite web|last1=Schmidt|first1=Stephen|last2=Murerwa|first2=George|title=Creation of a regional museum at Meru, Kenya|url=https://dokumen.tips/documents/creation-of-a-regional-museum-at-meru-kenya.html|access-date=2021-08-23}}

Collections

The museum contains various historical artefacts of the Meru culture.{{Cite web|last=Kenyans247|title=The Meru, Amîîrú, "Ameru" or Ngaa people are a Bantu ethnic group that inhabit|url=https://www.kenyans247.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510063642/http://kenyans247.com/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=May 10, 2019|access-date=2021-08-23|website=www.kenyans247.com|language=en}} The museum contains exhibits on stone tools dating from the prehistoric period and taxidermied animals.{{Cite book|last=Trillo|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-OUXN68FxoC&dq=%22Meru+Museum%22&pg=PT228|title=The Rough Guide to Kenya|date=2013-05-01|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-4093-3018-9|language=en}} The main museum gallery is composed of three sections, dedicated to the history of the Meru culture containing ethnographic objects, human evolution and the natural history of the area of Kenya where the museum is located.{{Cite web|title=MERU NATIONAL MUSEUM – Discover Meru County|url=https://www.discovermeru.co.ke/meru-national-museum/|access-date=2021-08-23|language=en-US}} The museum also has exhibits that focus on the development of different techniques in Kenyan agriculture.{{Cite web |url=https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Museums-and-community-involvement%3A-A-case-study-of-Nyangila/f413dcd6f3da4db682c1a630f1d96b50fe0e6ec6 |last=Mhando Nyangila|first=Jacob|date=2006|title=Museums and community involvement: A case of study of community collaborative initiatives - National Museums of Kenya}} In the cultural section, the museum has several exhibits of traditional clothing, tools and weapons, including arrows, bows, grindstones and spears.{{Cite web|title=A garden of healing plants at Meru Museum|url=https://www.kenya24news.com/kenya/a-garden-of-healing-plants-at-meru-museum/97036-news|access-date=2021-08-23|website=Kenya24 News|language=en}} The museum contains a fish pond, and exhibits on small mammals, birds and reptiles from this area of Kenya.{{Cite web|last=Hans|first=Rosalie|date=2018-04-30|title=Museums in the Making - Emerging Modalities in East African Independent Museums|url=https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/69192/1/PhD_Thesis_RS_Hans_31_10_2018.pdf}} The museum also contains exhibits on dinosaurs.{{Cite web|last=Trail|first=Rosalind|date=|title=Museum Highlights|url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA02578301_505|access-date=2021-08-25}} In addition, the museum contains a statue of Living Mugwe, a leader of the Meru people.{{Cite web|last1=Barasa|first1=Lucas|last2=Murithi|first2=Irene|date=2016-01-19|title=Museum offers glimpses of the Ameru's captivating past {{!}} Kenya|url=https://nation.africa/kenya/news/museum-offers-glimpses-of-the-ameru-s-captivating-past-1162512?view=htmlamp|access-date=2021-08-23|website=Nation.Africa}} The museum has a garden where medicinal plants native to Kenya are cultivated and conserved, there are about 23 plants, including Aloe secundiflora, Clausena anisata, Commiphora zimmermanii, Dioscorea minutiflora and Warburgia ugandensis.{{Cite web|last=Mugambi|first=Antonina|date=2012|title=The role of environmental conservation on survival of indigenous medicinal knowledge in Meru County, Kenya|url=https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/123456789/6489/ANTONINA%20GAUKU%20MUGAMBI.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y}}

Meru Museum

History

Collections

References

See also